Steals and Deals

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I've got a fab blog to share with you all today! Meg from the blog Meg the Grand is here to share a cute t-shirt makeover. She is a seamstress extraordinaire! I lovelovelove the things she comes up with and I have a hunch you will, too :) Without further ado, here's Meg!

I'm a redhead whose signature color is orange and I love to sew and refashion! I learned how to sew in college while working in a costume shop and have been honing my skills on the Sew Weekly challenges this year. I live in Chicago, Illinois with my fabulous boyfriend (who also doubles as my photographer).

Today, I'm going to teach you how to make a flower basket top.

For this project, you will need:

·A t-shirt that needs some love

·A piece of lace (I chose a bouquet of flowers)

·Ribbon (2 ½ feet should be enough for pleating around a larger motif)

·Pins

·Tailor’s chalk

·Sewing machine

·Ruler

I am using an Old Navy shirt that has been in my closet forever and had been in the giveaway pile. I went for a more streamlined look and chose white lace with a white top, though you could mix t-shirt and lace colors.

First things first: Put your shirt on inside out and mark where the top of the bra clasp lies under your shirt. I asked my boyfriend for assistance and wore a dark colored bra to assist him in finding the clasp. This marking will be helpful when trying to position your lace piece.

Next, we will measure side seam to side seam. My shirt measured 11 inches across the back. This measurement, along with your bra marking, will help in centering the motif on your upper back. If you have a neat tattoo and want to make a window for that to be seen instead, your measurements will be different. (Have a friend mark the outline of the tattoo instead of the next step)

Your lace motif will need to be cut out with at least ¼ inch seam allowance The motif I used ended up being 7 inches across.

This next part can be done 1 of 2 ways:

1.Mark where your lace lays, remove lace, and cut out area.

2.Sew the lace down on the right side of the shirt and then cut out t shirt from behind.

I chose to mark where my lace laid since I tend to get scissor happy and didn’t want to risk my awesome bouquet getting snipped. I laid the lace face down on the inside of the shirt and marked the edges with tailor’s chalk.

Next, cut out your design’s outline, making sure to add at least ¼ to the edges for seam allowance. I put a piece of cardboard in between the front and back of the shirt as a precaution. (I promise this is not an advertisement for Kellogg’s Raisin Bran…because this cereal is from Aldi’s. So this is an advertisement for Aldi’s Raisin Bran. J)

Turn your shirt inside out so your chalk marks are hidden from sight. Position your lace motif over the opening and pin the edges down.

Stitch around the edges, being careful to capture both the t-shirt and lace.

Trim the excess lace around the edges and grab your ribbon. I began pleating the ribbon at the top of the motif, covering up both the stitching and the edge of the lace. My pleats ended up being ½ inch each.

Continue around your motif. This is the most time consuming part, but watching Hoarders totally takes your mind off it. (OMG I love Hoarders. It makes me look at my fabric stash and go: “That’s not so bad after all.” I have a problem, ya’ll.) When I came to the end of the ribbon, I tucked it under the first pleat to make a continuous loop.

Now we sew! I suggest sewing down the pleats rather than against – it makes for a smoother step and less chance your ribbon will be flipped up in random places. I stitched down the center of the ribbon with a smaller stitch than I normally use.

Now we get to try it on and dance around to Journey! Don’t stop beeelieevinnnn….

Just remember to put on sunscreen under that spot or else you may have some crazy sunburn lines… or don’t, and you have an instant conversation starter! Ta da!

Thank you again Courtney for having me over here on your wonderful blog! You are uber fabulous J

Aw, thanks, Meg! Seriously, no one has ever called me uber fabulous, so I'm super-honored! To see more of the wonderful things Meg has whipped up with the help of her trusty sewing machine, stop by her blog-I can guarantee there will be something that will make you say "I'm so making that!"

Monday, June 27, 2011

My semester is over! Woohoo! I only get a week break in between but, hey, a week is better than nothing, right? And I have such grand plans for this week. Let's just hope everything cooperates with me so I can get some things {and by things I mean some awesome crafts that have had to be put on hold while school monopolized my time} done and share them with you!

Oh, hey, did you notice this little guy hanging out in my right sidebar?

Yep, I did it-I joined Pintrest {finally!} If you'd like to follow along, you can find my pins here. And to see the neat things that others have pinned from Scraps and Scribbles, you can head here.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Just wondering if anyone else has been having problems with Blogger, design-wise this week. I've been trying to add and update some design elements on my blog all week and it's not working. I click on the gadget, paste in my code and click save and...nothing. Anyone know what's going on?

As strange as this may sound, when I was younger {like 9, 10 younger} I actually liked doing the laundry. I think it's because it made me feel grown up. Now, with a husband and two-year-old, the laundry piles up fast. It's one of those "didn't I just finish this?" chores {right up there with the dishes, right?} And, again, with said two-year-old, there are stains a-plenty. Though our family is still on the smallish side, I've rounded up some laundry tips that have helped me through the
dreaded laundry day.

1. Pick a day

I found it's much easier to have a designated laundry day than to be doing laundry all week long. Constantly doing a load here and there adds to that never done feeling. For our family, laundry day is on Saturdays. This is mostly due to the fact that my husband travels and needs his things washed over the weekend so that he can be packed and ready to leave again on Mondays. Since there's only three of us for now, I can get everything done in one day. And if there are accidents throughout the week, then I just do additional loads as needed.

2. Sort!

This one probably seems like a no-brainer. But it will seriously make things go smoother, and can cut down on the number of loads you end up doing. My piles go like this: whites, darks, coloreds, towels and Bobby's stuff. Some weeks if the towel pile is small, I'll toss it in with the coloreds-same if Bobby's pile is small or the darks pile is small.

3. Fight {treat} those stains

Best thing about sorting is, you're looking at everything, deciding on which pile it goes in. This is a great opportunity to look for stains. If I find something that has a spot on it, I set it aside and once I'm through with my sorting, I go treat the stain. Now, there are a billion ways to get rid of stains. These are just what I'm found works for me. I swear by Shout Advanced Gel. It gets pretty much anything you could think of out the very first time. I dab it on and let it sit for, oh, say about 30 minutes or so before tossing it in the wash. For really tough stains, I make a little mixture out of laundry detergent, some Shout and some Tide Stain Release powder-it makes a sort of paste which I just rub onto the stain. For grease stains, I first rinse out the item with warm water, then squirt some grease-cutting dish soap on it. Rub it in, and let it sit, same as with the Shout. Depending on the stain, I might even put some Shout on over the dish soap, for a double whammy. I also lovelovelove Tide Stain Release duo packs-you just toss them in the wash and they take care of the stains. They're great for the ones we all sometimes miss. My best tip for stains, especially the grease ones: don't dry the item if the stain is still there. For some stains, it might take a few runs through the wash before it comes out all the way. Drying it will set the stain and make it near impossible to get out. Vinegar also does some wonderful things for your laundry. It can help get your whites whiter and brighter without bleach and you know that musty smell our towels sometimes get? Vinegar will get that out! All you do is pour a little in with your detergent and volia! And since it's mixed with your detergent, that lovely vinegar smell washes right out {for anyone who was worried that their clothes were going to come out smelling like pickles.}

For some more awesome stain-fighting tips, check out this great post over at Tip Junkie.

4. Choose your detergent wisely.

The detergent of choice here is Tide Coldwater. Two reasons: I can wash everything on cold, which saves me money and I don't have to worry about making a separate pile for those "wash warm" items, as this detergent is designed with those articles of clothing in mind, which cuts down on the number of loads I have to do, which also saves me money {and time.} I also use only Woolite for Darks on my dark clothing. Seriously, this stuff works. I've mentioned it before in one of my clothing posts-I have a couple of black pieces that I have washed in only this detergent that I've had for going on 7 years and they have not fade one bit. There's even a tee shirt that I have from my junior year of high school that I've only washed in Woolite that is still as black as the day I got it. Personally, I think it's worth the extra money to keep my clothes looking like new, since in the long run, I'm not having to constantly replace my darks. And, since I only use it for one load a week, one large bottle lasts me months!

5. Take it one load at a time.

Which would you rather tackle: a daunting mountain of laundry or one little load at a time? I try {try being the key word there} to fold my laundry one load at a time, as it's finished. It keeps things from piling up. Now, this isn't always possible to do, because there are weekends when I'm tossing loads in between helping the hubs with a project around the house or getting some homework done. When that happens, I have a solution. Back to the sorting. I sort out the finished laundry by who it belongs to. One pile for me, one pile for the hubs, one pile for the little man and one pile for towels and such. Then I can tackle it one pile at a time, usually while I'm watching some TV or at night when we're watching a movie-some sort of activity where I'm sitting anyways.

So, I know this post is about my tips to you for laundry, but I've got one that's had me stumped for years: the dreaded armpit stains. We all get them because we all sweat, like it or not. I've tried everything under the sun I could think of and nothing seems to work. Does anyone know of something that actually gets them out?

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I'm so happy to have Heidi visiting again over here at Scraps and Scribbles! If you didn't catch her first guest post, you can check it out here. She's here today sharing something really fun with you all-enjoy!

But today, I'm hosting a PENNANT PARTY! I'm a girl who LOVES a fun pennant! So make sure to head over to my blog and link up all of your fun pennant projects {past or present}!

Since I'm hosting a Pennant Party, of course I HAD to show you a fun project I made that's accented with a pennant! I recently made a Starfish Flag {inspired by The Lettered Cottage}. Here's my version, made using Paint Stirrer Sticks! {You can buy them at Wal-Mart for about a quarter each!}

How do you like that Pennant Banner on my mantel? I won it from Day Dream Believers! Adorable, right!

After I made the flag, I decided I wanted to make it double sided so that I could get twice as much use out of it! When I flipped it over, it totally looked like a picket fence! So there was my new project! I painted the back white, added another paint stirrer and strung it with a pennant made from yardstick and twine!

Isn't it just as cute on my mantel as the starfish flag!

See, doesn't it look like a cute little picket fence!

Here's a close up of the paper pennant!

Thanks again Courtney for having me! I hope you will all visit The Craft Monkey Blog and link up your pennant projects, and remember they can be an old project or a new project!

How fun! Thanks so much for sharing this cute project, Heidi! If you have a pennant project, go link it up and check out the rest of the Summer Safari fun!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Fourth of July is in less than two weeks, and with me {FINALLY!} getting a small break from school, I got to do some crafting, patriotic-style. I made a red, white and blue star embellishment for my interchangeable wreath. And it only cost me $2!

To make your own, here's what you'll need:

Wreath

Felt stars-I found mine at Joann's for only $1 per package and each package comes with 2 stars of each color

Hot glue

and velcro

I laid my stars all out to get a visual because I'm kinda dumb that way

Then messed around with the layout. This one was a little star-heavy for me, so I took a couple out

Until I happened upon the perfect layout. I then carefully glued them together, then attached my pieces of velcro to the back, using the pieces on my wreath as a guide {you can check out the original tutorial for this step-it's easy peasy!}

The little man even wanted to get in on the action {really, it's just a shameless excuse to show off my cute little boy}

And ta-da! The whole thing only took about 10 minutes, tops. I'm going to get some blue ribbon and make a red, white and blue bow to go on it.

But it'll more than do for now.

I have another fun and easy Fourth project coming up next week-see, I told you good things were in store!

Monday, June 20, 2011

First of all, Happy Father's Day to all of the daddies out there! I hope your day yesterday was fantastic! I got to spoil my hubby, who I am so grateful to have as the father of our children. He is an amazing dad and our son loves him so completely. I didn't get to see my dad, as he lives 7 hours away, but I did get to have a nice chat on the phone with him : )

This is me and my daddy on my very first Easter, 1985. Such a handsome man!

And in other, exciting news, I only have one more week of this semester to go! You all have no idea how happy that makes me! School has seriously been killing me and sucking up ALL of my time. Now I'll have some time to get some crafting done! Woohoo!

I just want to take a moment to thank all of you for being so patient with me through all of this. I know posting around here has been super-sporadic. Just know that it's not because I don't love you all-life has just been more than crazy lately! Things should {hopefully-I know I'll be trying my best to make sure it happens!} be returning to normal soon! And I've got some fun things in store!

Oh and P.S. I'm still looking for blogs/shops/whatnot to show off here on Scraps and Scribbles so if you'd like to be featured, shoot me an email at scrapsnscribs{at}gmail{dot}com!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

I made this one a while back and LOVE it! It's so easy to do and makes a great addition to any wardrobe.

I'll be showing you how to make a pretty and easy statement necklace that won't break the bank. Make one for yourself or give it away as a gift, or both!

I love a pretty and simple statement necklace. Something that packs a punch without being overwhelming.

Photo courtesy of Forever 21

I saw this necklace over at Forever 21's website back at the beginning of the year. I went to try and find it in the store, but no luck. Then I thought, hey, I could make my own!

To make yours, you'll need:

About 3 yards of black "pearls" (I got mine at Joann's)

Sheer black fabric

Black ribbon, about 1/2 in. wide

Needle, thread, glue and glue gun

Start by cutting 3 lengths of the beads: one 35 1/2 inches, one 31 1/2 inches and one 27 inches. You can adjust the measurements if you don't want your necklace as long. Lay them out longest, middle and shortest (as shown in the picture.)

Cut two lengths of ribbon, 4 inches long each. Glue on the ends of the beads, keeping them in the laid-out (longest, middle, shortest) order. Glue the other ends to the opposite edge of the ribbon. Be sure to keep them in order so they don't get twisted!

Glue on the other piece of ribbon, covering the beads.

There! Now it's time to make the flowers.

Cut 4 9x 1 1/2 inch strips of the sheer black fabric. This will make three flowers-two small and one large.

Fold them in half, without creasing so you end up with a tube and hem together the edges, about 1/8 of an inch in.

Start rolling the tube, turning the raw edges at the end in. Stop when it looks like this and stitch in place.

Gather the remainder of the fabric and roll around the center. Stitch in place.

For the large flower, sew two strips of fabric together, end to end and repeat the steps for the small flower.

Now it's time to attach the flowers. Decide where you'd like the flowers to be and start with the top one when you begin attaching them. Glue the flower onto the center strand first. We'll attach the addition strands once all of the flowers are attached.

Attach the large flower next, followed by the last small flower. Once all of the flowers have been glued onto the center strand, attach the flowers to the other strands. Be sure to keep the beads tight, but not over-tight, so there's no sagging or bunching in between the flowers.